Vettel stuns with Sepang pole

2011-04-09 11:29

MALAYSIA, Sepang - Current world champion Sebastian Vettel beat McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Malaysian GP by a little more than a mere tenth of second, in the very last moments of qualifying.

Hamilton had been running strongly ahead of the field for the duration of all three tiers of qualifying until the four fastest cars went out for a final stab at the Sepang track.

Vettel then set about recording a 1:34.870, besting Hamilton’s 1:34.974.

Vettel used KERS technology to gain the crucial advantage.

Red Bull did not use the energy-recovery technology to dominate in Melbourne two weeks ago, but championship leader Vettel said he needed it to stave off a resurgent McLaren in Malaysia by just one tenth.

"We came here and solved most of the (reliability) problems," the German said. "I think if we did not have it (KERS) today, we would not be here (on pole)."

So significant has been McLaren's progress in recent weeks that Hamilton, happy to be second best in Australia, was visibly disappointed with his P2 on the Sepang grid.

Signalling McLaren and Red Bull’s clear dominance in F1 racing, the two world champions had their team mates fill the second row of the grid too, with Mark Webber qualifying third and Jenson Button fourth.

The Spanish HRT managed to qualify within the 107% rule timeframe, allowing them to start their first GP of the 2011 season, after the disappointment of Australia.

Despite its tropical location, qualifying stayed remarkably dry for the Malaysian GP. This is just as well, as most drivers have little or no experience of wet-weather driving with the new Pirelli tyres.